Monthly Archives: January 2013

With this morning’s announcement that the economy shrank by 0.1% in the 4th quarter of 2012–unexpectedly!–the specter of another recession looms. The Associated Press doesn’t try to sugarcoat the news; it terms the decline a “stunning drop.” What to do, now that the worst recovery in history seems to have ground to a halt and the economy is slipping into reverse? Anything that might actually help is anathema to the »

The chief of Egypt’s military, Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, warned of the possible “collapse of the state” following a fourth night of street fighting in Cairo and other major cities. In that event, the military might very well intervene in an effort to restore stability. Unfortunately, as we pointed out in August of last year, Sissi’s sympathies lie with the Muslim Brotherhood. Indeed, this report by the Washington Post, though it »

Yesterday, the Senate confirmed John Kerry as Secretary of State. The vote was 94-3. Kerry’s confirmation was never in doubt. Unlike Susan Rice, Kerry did not recently exhibit willful disregard for the truth on a matter of deep public conern (the Benghazi killings), although he did slander the U.S. military four decades ago in connection with the war in Vietnam. And unlike Chuck Hagel, Kerry’s stated views on foreign policy »

One thing you can count on is the gullibility and endless reserves of outrage of the professional victimologists of the Left. Case in point: Volkswagen has released a new ad for the Super Bowl that has the Sensitivity Police yelling “racism!” at the top of their lungs. Please. Grow up people. The ad already has over 1.5 million views on YouTube. Volkswagen and their ad agency must be pleased with »

Freshman Texas Senator Ted Cruz is one of the standouts among recently elected Republicans. I met him once back in the 1990s when he was a Supreme Court clerk for Chief Justice Rehnquist; we engaged in a good natured argument over some quirks in Rehnquist’s jurisprudence, and I came away very impressed and was not surprised that Cruz subsequently rose fast in the ranks of Texas politics. Thus I was »

Last night we made it to Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant in downtown Minneapolis for the first of Peter Asher’s two nights at the club performing his show A Musical Memoir of the 60s and Beyond. The show returns tonight at 7:00 p.m. and tickets are still available. Last year we went to the show on a lark and were blown away by Peter’s incredibly entertaining musical review of times »

Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh said of comprehensive immigration reform, “I don’t know that there’s any stopping this; it’s up to me and Fox News, and I don’t think Fox News is that invested in this.” After Limbaugh’s interview today with Marco Rubio, I wonder how invested Limbaugh is in stopping the comprehensive immigration reform express. Rubio has been designated by the Senate’s immigration leftists — Schumer, Durbin, McCain, and Graham — »

A reader deep within the bowels of the Environmental Protection Administration — and nasty bowels they are too — says he is following the orders of outgoing EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson by forwarding this message from her to “all agency employees.” We pass on this important message verbatim, minus only the EPA@Work banner displaying Jackson’s smiling countenance: Dear Colleagues: I am proud to share with you an important effort our »

The key component of the Gang of 8 Senate immigration proposal is the provision requiring that our borders be deemed “secure” before those who are in the country illegally now can begin the process towards U.S. citizenship. This provision purports to address the concern that providing a path to citizenship will encourage more illegal immigration. Even in theory, providing a path to citizenship that’s contingent on securing the border is »

When I was young, a school sex scandal was when someone got some. Times evidently have changed, as reflected by two stories currently in the news. In New York, there has been an uproar over a former music teacher who has been in the “rubber room” for 13 years. (In New York, teachers who deserve to be fired, but can’t be because of union rules, are barred from the classroom »

Yesterday, I fretted that the Republican members of the eight person “Gang” negotiating Senate immigration reform lack the knowledge of (and concern over) detail needed to prevent the Democratic members from outfoxing them on the issue of amnesty. This is a secondary matter, to be sure. The primary concern should be that amnesty is on the table at all, and I will have more to say about this soon, including »

The thought that love has no pride is an old one. Indeed, it has become something of a cliché. Yet it is achieved the status of cliché by virtue of the truth in it. CBS’s venerable 60 Minutes show brought us an example of the cliché in action over the weekend. 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft is smitten with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. He put his professional skills aside »

Like John, I probably will have much to say about the immigration proposal that was outlined today by a small bipartisan group of senators. For now, I want to expand on John’s concern about the cast of characters that has put this bipartisan deal together. Even if one agrees with the concepts this group has built its deal around (and I don’t agree with the “path to citizenship” component), the »

It has been amusing, in a black-humor sort of way, to see various media figures finally admit that Barack Obama is a far-left, out of the mainstream political figure. Just kidding; they don’t actually admit that. But at least they are now willing to acknowledge–most of them, anyway–that he is a liberal. “I told you so” is, as usual, cold comfort. Michael Ramirez sums up the last six years of »

We will have much more to say about the immigration proposal that was put on the table today by a bipartisan group of senators, but here are a few initial questions and observations. 1) The proposal begins with the oft-repeated claim that “our immigration system is broken.” But what does this mean? I think our immigration system is fundamentally misguided because it does not serve our interests. We should be »

In “Iran: Nuke notes, &c.,” I took note of the uncorroborated report that something seriously bad happened last week at Iran’s underground nuclear facility at Fordo. In “Israel shores up its defense, while Iran remains quiet,” Lee Smith reads the tea leaves to suggest that an Israeli operation at Fordo may have succeeded. Smith’s analysis is worth a look. AN UPDATE TO MY UPDATE: “Iran denies explosion at underground uranium »

Mackubin Thomas Owens served as an infantry platoon leader in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart. Mac now teaches on the faculty of the Naval War College as Professor of National Security Affairs. He is also a senior fellow at the Program on National Security of the Foreign Policy Research Institute while serving as editor of its journal, Orbis. He is a long-time student of »